Easy English and Easy Read are different
Easy Read does not follow research and is not fit for purpose
Easy English is grounded in universal design principles.
Easy English applies the ISO Plain Language Standard.
Easy English applies academic evidence.
Easy English consults diverse people with low literacy.
See the differences easy read does not help those it sets out to
Easy English
Easy Read
Discussion
Framework
Easy English
Easy Read
- Universal Design principles.
- ISO Plain Language Standard.
- Applies research and evidence from interrelated fields. EG: speech pathology, psychology, education, literacy, linguistics, plain language, graphic design, content design, & user experience.
- Uses your audiences' familiar words to explain and share new ideas or information.
- Audience: any person with low literacy, (44% of adult Australian population, OECD) and people with intellectual disability. Plus any person in stress, ill health, emergency or living with trauma.
- Reviewed by different people in the community with low literacy who do not see themselves as readers. They are not engaged with advisory groups, co-design or in advocacy. Read more on our blog.
- Everyone does it differently and for different purposes. (Chinn, 2019)
- Some producers suggest they use only some plain language standards, others do not include them at all. None refer to the ISO. Read more on our blog.
- Producers report their content development is based on what people with intellectual disability say they want. (Chinn, 2019)
- Some suggest the purpose of Easy Read is to learn new words that the reader does not use in their everyday life.
- Audience: Promoted as being for people with intellectual disability. Some suggest other people can also read it. Evidence suggests other audiences are unlikely to want to use it. (Houts et al, 2006)
- When reviewed, Easy Read appears to engage primarily with people with intellectual disability who are self-advocates or those engaged in co-design work only. Read more on our blog.
Literature review. Wilson et al, 2024. 21st Seattle Club Conference UK.
Studies found people with intellectual disability (PwID) reported they liked Easy Read but they still needed support to read it.
Most professionals made it differently and often excluded PwID in making it.
Easy Read guidelines often disagreed with each other and were based on opinions rather than research evidence.
Conclusion: there is no strong evidence Easy Read supports PwID to understand and use Easy Read.
Note: None of this research has asked PwID to compare Easy Read with Easy English.
Easy English is for anyone with low literacy, for any reason, at any time.
Easy English promotes autonomy & independence.
Easy English: what do people with low literacy say?
"Often I still do not understand things when
they are written in Easy Read."
Self advocate,
Tasmania 2017.
About Easy Read: “My mum helps me.”
About Easy English: “I can read this.”
Self advocate,
Down Syndrome World Congress 2024.
Request a quote from us
Preferred Provider Status
Literacy and access to
written information
Lunch Time Webinar, 2023
NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation
What's in a name Easy English
or Easy Read
International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, New Zealand. 2023
Translating documents into
Easy English
In 2021, Cathy was invited on to the Speak Up: Speech Pathology Australia Podcast.
She discusses how speech pathologists can use Easy English with host Anneke Flinn. Also available at: Apple Podcasts, Spotify
List of references with links above
Chinn, D. S. (2019). Talking to producers of Easy Read health information for people with intellectual disability: Production practices, textual features, and imagined audiences. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 44(4), 410–420. https://doi.org/10.3109/13668250.2019.1577640
Houts, P. S., Doak, C. C., Doak, L. G., & Loscalzo, M. J. (2006). The role of pictures in improving health communication: A review of research on attention, comprehension, recall, and adherence. Patient Education and Counseling, 61(2), 173–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2005.05.004
Wilson, H., Irvine, K., Alexander, R., & Mengoni, S. (2024). Easy Read health information for people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review of the evidence. PROSPERO. Available from https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42024546386
Front Covers. Easy English. Title: Clear, specific direct words, using Easy English principles. Image: Specific highly guessable image that supports this text and content. Branding: included while retaining high readability and useability for the reader. Easy Read Title: May use less familiar and longer words. May not change it from the corporate title. Image: May use marketing photos. May need to learn what image means. There may be no image, only branding. Branding: some can override useability. Note 1: Some Easy Read documents do not have front covers. Note 2: Different Easy Read developers may use an 'Easy Read' logo. They are each company's individual marketing. They do not signify any agreed or quality standard. Hard words list or How to use this booklet Easy English Never included. Explicit explanation of what the reader needs to know. Easy Read Nearly every developer includes this in the opening pages of each document. > Use a concept called hard words. Called a summary - is not stand alone. Table of contents Easy English Each topic always has a clear image to support it. Easy Read Images have never been seen for topic headings. Some add lines between each topic, as seen in this example. Headings Easy English Always supported with an image Easy Read Never has an image to support the heading Layout Easy English Large and consistent amounts of white space between each idea. (text with image). Only page number in footers. Headers not used. Maximum of 4 ideas on the page. Easy Read A small amount of white space between each idea. Not always consistent white space. Footers often have more than a page number. Headers may be used. Many ideas per page Words and sentences Both about inclusive communities. Easy English Most words are short & single syllable Average 5-to-8-word sentences One idea per sentence Short list of concrete bullet points. Easy Read Some short or single syllable words More multi-syllable words Average 12-14 words sentences May have more than 1 idea in sentences Can have more than 4 points in a bullet list Bullet list can be multiple abstract ideas. Images Easy English Maximum 4 images per page. Heading supported with an image. Every image is highly guessable. Easy Read More than 4 images per page. No image to support heading. Images can be small & maybe difficult to see detail may have many parts, with each part requiring interpretation. Nonspecific images and/or need to learn what they mean. Abstract symbols to represent ideas, which need to be learned EG: yellow sparks around man in blue shirt. Images Easy English Clear specific image. Highly guessable Image represents the specific idea. Photos only used when that person or place is in the text. Easy Read. Words in images. Photos people who are unknown to the reader, and not specific to the text with visual clutter combined with abstract icons (EG: top & 2nd bottom image). Images Easy English Realistic colour use People have faces Highly guessable images. Easy Read Icons - colours do not represent real life. EG: tradesman in blue with red high viz, blue toilet, blue people, etc. Abstract icons Very small images or icons as part of a group of images or group of icons.